Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion
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Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion section of the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass. As such, our focus starts there and spreads to include Massachusetts, the nation and the world. Since successful blogs create communities of readers and writers, we hope the \x34& Co.\x34 will also come to include you.

The image above is from a free iPhone app the NRA introduced on the one-month anniversary on the Sandy Hook massacre.

Yesterday, the NRA put up a new Web ad blasting President Obama for opposing more guns in schools while his own kids have armed guards at their school. Forget the illogic – because Obama’s kids have Secret Service protection, every American kid should have Secret Service protection. At a politically sensitive moment, does the NRA really want to conjure up the image of some maniac Obamaphobe going after Sasha and Malia with a Bushmaster?

In the NRA – and in the Republican Party – the lunatics have taken over the asylum. There’s nothing illegal here, but the NRA’s political tone-deafness is impressive. This kind of stuff has got to make it harder for its friends in Congress to be seen supporting its agenda.